Salinity is a major abiotic stress affecting crop plants in Australia, resulting in substantial loss of yield and millions of dollars of lost revenue. High levels of Na+ in shoot tissue have adverse osmotic effects and reduce the amount of K+ available for essential biological processes. Crucially, yield in cereals is commonly inversely proportional to the extent of shoot Na+ accumulation.
In order to combat this problem it would be desirable to understand how salt gets into a plant and how a plant deals with it once it is inside. Therefore, there is a need to identify the genes, resistant plant cultivars and cellular processes that are involved in salt tolerance with the goal of introducing these factors into commercially available crops.
Reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that this prior art forms part of the common general knowledge in any country.